Dichtomatik Expands O-Ring Product Offering Through Acquisition of American Seal Inc.

PLYMOUTH, Mich., Oct. 1, 2004 -- The Dichtomatik North America division of International Seal Company, Inc., -- a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership -- announced today that it has acquired the assets of American Seal Inc. of Houston. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The new acquisition will substantially increase Dichtomatik's O-ring product line with more than 12,000 sizes and materials. The company will also utilize American Seal's Houston facility to enhance regional distribution to the south central market with its full range of products.

"Dichtomatik's goal is to be the only sealing supplier our customers need by offering the best quality, highest value and largest selection of products in the industry," said John E. Rice, CEO of Dichtomatik Americas. "The strategic acquisition of American Seal further expands our vast product portfolio and ensures that we can satisfy all of our OEM and aftermarket customers' needs."

Rice added, "This is a perfect synergy for both companies. Dichtomatik will immediately utilize the complete range of O-ring products in stock at the Houston facility and plans to enlarge the American Seal location with the most extensive line of oil seals, fluid power seals and other stock standard products."

Today, Dichtomatik provides "Any Seal, Any Time" capabilities and offers one of the most complete inventories and the largest seal product offering in North America.

Dichtomatik North America was founded in 1978 to complement its European predecessor, Dichtomatik of Hamburg, Germany -- which is known as the largest and strongest European supplier of non-branded, generic and standard cataloged O-ring, oil seal and fluid power seals.

The 2002 acquisitions of Transcom and Nu-Seals Inc. brought new expertise in custom molded rubber products, as well as a significant product offering in fluid power seals, helping to further strengthen Dichtomatik's position as a one-stop shop for all types of standard and custom produced sealing products.

American Seal Inc. was founded in 1984 and has grown to become an industry leader in the supply of O-rings, X-rings, backup rings, encapsulated O-rings, O-ring kits, cord and extrusions.

Dichtomatik North America operates from Shakopee, Minn. with locations in Markham, Ontario, Canada; Round Hill, Va.; San Luis Obispo, Calif.; and Henderson, Nev. The European business is operated from Hamburg, Germany, with additional locations in England, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and France.

As a generic seal supplier in North America and Europe, Dichtomatik's principal focus is on the replacement market selling through distributors. It also has a growing business for original equipment applications using standard oil seals, O-rings and fluid power seals, and is capable of replacing commoditized brand products with lower cost sealing products produced in the Asian market.

The Dichtomatik group offers an extensive portfolio of standard sealing products for the aerospace, appliance, business machine, automotive, fluid power, marine, medical, off-highway equipment and recreational vehicle markets.

For more information, visit the Dichtomatik website at http://www.dichtomatikusa.com/ .

Founded in 1989, Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership is a joint venture between Freudenberg & Co. of Germany and NOK Corp. of Japan.

Freudenberg-NOK is a leader in both automotive sealing and noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) products and is a supplier to all automakers producing in North America, as well as all major tier one chassis and drivetrain suppliers. The company's headquarters and technical center in Plymouth, Mich. houses the most extensive supplier-operated sealing and noise and vibration testing facility in North America.

For more information, visit the Freudenberg-NOK web site at http://www.freudenberg-nok.com/ .